Even though it's bad for us, many call it a stress reliever.


I found an old article about it....


One billion people will die from tobacco-related causes by the end of the century if current consumption trends continue, according to a global report released Thursday by the World Health Organization (WHO).
At a press conference held in midtown Manhattan, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose charitable organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies, contributed $2 million to conduct the study, joined top WHO officials to present the findings. Among the litany of sobering statistics: 5.4 million people die each year — one every six seconds — from lung cancer, heart disease or other illness directly linked to tobacco use. Smoking killed 100 million people in the 20th century, and the yearly death toll could pass 8 million as soon as 2030 — 80% of those deaths will be in the developing world, where tobacco use is growing most rapidly. "We're on a collision course," said Dr. Douglas Bettcher, director of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative.
If the unveiling of the report felt more like an assault, it was meant to. Built into the report's six primary policy goals was a directive to countries to warn people about the many dangers of tobacco. Another of the study's main objectives was to get countries to assess their tobacco consumption. "If you can't measure a problem, you obviously can't manage it," said Mayor Bloomberg, who banned smoking in New York City's restaurants and bars in 2003.
The 369-page WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008, bound like a high school yearbook and bundled with a "cigarette pack" of colored markers, called on governments to adhere to six tobacco control policies it calls MPOWER: monitor tobacco use; protect people from secondhand smoke; offer help to people who want to quit; warn about the risks of smoking; enforce bans on cigarette advertising; and raise tobacco taxes. The report also breaks down tobacco consumption and prevention efforts country by country. To date, it is the most comprehensive study of its kind at a global level, said WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan.
The collected data should equip countries around the world to begin implementing anti-tobacco policies, Chan says, including smoking bans, aggressive anti-tobacco campaigns and massive tobacco tax hikes. According to the report, nearly two thirds of the world's smokers live in 10 countries — China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the U.S., Brazil, Germany, Russia, and Turkey. China alone accounts for nearly 30% of all smokers worldwide. Currently, only 5% of the world's population lives in countries — predominately in Western Europe — that have any antismoking policies in place. "These are straightforward and common sense measures within the reach of every country, regardless of income level," said Chan.
According to the study, the most effective tactic globally has been simply to raise prices. "Increasing taxes is the best way to decrease consumption," Bettcher said, pointing to the direct relationship between a rise in excise tax rates and a fall in cigarette purchases in South Africa between 1990 and 2006. Making tobacco prohibitively expensive, said Bettcher, will decrease consumption, especially among those who can least afford to smoke. Lower income people smoke significantly more than the wealthy, and spend a much higher proportion of their income on tobacco — 20% of the most impoverished households in Mexico spend as much as 11% of their household income on tobacco — mostly due to the tobacco industry's objective to get people addicted to nicotine, according to the study.
Another vulnerable group: women. Though women still smoke at just one quarter the rate of men, tobacco advertisers are increasingly targeting this largely untapped market. Though parts of Europe have enacted some of the most aggressive anti-tobacco policies in the world, in recent decades the rates of smoking between men and women have begun evening out — even as rates decrease among European men, they are increasing among women. Among adolescents in European Union member nations, girls may now be even more likely to smoke than boys. Globally, Chan said, "the rise of tobacco use among girls and young women is among the most ominous trends."
As with virtually all public-health problems, a major hurdle to reducing smoking, the study said, is lack of public education. People are not fully aware of the hazards of smoking, and it's a weakness that the tobacco industry is quick to exploit, Bettcher said. A recent Chinese study found that "only 25% of the Chinese population knew tobacco was bad for their health," he explained. Warnings should be bolder and scarier, said Bloomberg. Other countries put skull and crossbones symbols or photographs of blackened lungs on their cigarette packs, he said, and the U.S should follow suit: "The U.S. government isn't doing enough."
Asked whether he would back a federal ban on smoking in the workplace or public spaces, Bloomberg said he would, but added, "I don't think the federal government should prohibit the manufacture or sale of cigarettes," but that combatting tobacco should mean diminishing the demand.
Once a smoker himself, Bloomberg said he was able to quit only when he truly understood the consequences. "As I became more mature and started thinking, 'Do I want to live or not?' it was an easy decision." For those who want to smoke, however, he feels it should be their right, so long as they aren't harming others. "I happen to agree with those who think you have a right to kill yourself," he said.

Taken from: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1711154,00.html

Most of the people I know smoke. I have no problems with it. I can't control what other people do, and it's ultimately their decision to make whether to smoke or quit. I can't force them to do either one.

I smoke. Most people I know smoke, actually, but only 'socially'. As in, they're not regular smokers, but if we go out, they'll more than happily ask me for one -_-
I don't do it in public. At least, not in the day time. So, when I smoke, I don't actually harm anyone around me, because everyone else is doing it, and if they minded it, I'd happily walk off and do it elsewhere.
That said, my closest friends still don't know that I smoke. I should probably tell them, but, weirdly, I know they'll be less understanding than some of my not-quite-so-close friends.

I smoked for 20yrs before I gave up.
The giving up part was the worst thing I ever did, chest/throat infections(there was even talk of removing tonsils), asthma got worse.
However once it was outa my system it was the best thing I ever did.
My friend has recently started & doesn't understand qhy her kids have suddenly got chest infections, which they've never suffered from before.

GinjaNut - My friend said the same thing. She smoked for 40yrs, ended up in the hospital a few months after quiting because she couldn't breath, and over the first few months she'd get bad tastes in her month that reminded her of the chemicals at jobs she worked 20yr prior. Once she got past the one year quit point her breathing started getting better.

I'm a smoker.
I'm not going to hide it.
Honestly, since I've started smoking  I have become a lot more stressed. Not just from smoking, but I think it's had an impact. I don't really think the smoking helps. But, it's adicting.

I'm not gonna, like, be mean to anyone on here cuz they smoke, but I think it's really gross. It smells bad, it's bad for you... I don't see any up-sides of it.

Just my opinion.

I can't say I care for smoking; I find the smell repulsive. Its health detriments are so widely known by now I can't imagine why people even pick up the habit in the first place. I have asthma, so when people smoke in public places with a lot of pedestrian traffic (which I find quite rude) there's always a risk of an attack, though fortunately it's not very severe. I mean, it's totally your decision to smoke, but there are a significant number of smokers who think it is their God-given right to expose everyone to secondhand smoke, which it certainly is it. If you smoke in private or the company of like-minded people, I don't really have a problem with it, but when you pollute the air the rest of us have to breathe, I don't take kindly to it.

I don't smoke and don't plan to. Ever. Most members of the family smoke, though. It annoys me when I'm sitting by my dad while he's  smoking indoors. He even smokes in the bathroom.

"asthma got worse."

I've noticed that on the occasions I've tried to quit. I know you get it all out of your system by coughing it up and that, but it was horrendous :/ Needless to say, I failed to quit :L

"Honestly, since I've started smoking I have become a lot more stressed."

Would that be the withdrawal symptoms? To begin with, smoking's fairly relaxing because of the nicotine rushes. Once you get addicted, that disappears, but you get relaxed because the nicotine temporarily stops the withdrawal-ness.
That's what I've noticed, at least. I smoke more when I'm stressed, and trying to cut down after weeks of smoking more than usual is quite a mission.

"I don't smoke and don't plan to. Ever. Most members of the family smoke, though. It annoys me when I'm sitting by my dad while he's smoking indoors. He even smokes in the bathroom. "

Same situation for me. The only different part is that I made it so my parents won't smoke indoors anymore. Maybe you can ask your parents to do the same?

I started smoking when i was 15 and was forced to quit at 27. I couldnt breathe and come to find out i had lung damage. and now have to use an inhhaler. Quiting was the hardest thing. I hate it when someone smokes around me. because i still crave that feeling.. its

I'm sorry about your lung damage ^

I think most people start when they're young.. I'm only 15 myself, started at 14.. or was it 13? Can't even remember.. generally, I think if you get through your teens without being a smoker, you're never going to be one. As you grow up, you're not so easily as led, and you don't feel that invincibility most teenagers feel..

I've never smoked a cigarette before, but I'm a fan of the occasional cigar and hookah. I'm not a fan of the smell of cigarettes, which is why I never got into them, and cigars and hookah are both expensive and difficult to have all the time, which is why I didn't get addicted. To be honest, I just enjoy smoke coming from my mouth and doing tricks...I don't really care about my health because I don't do it much. I think my parenting helped me, though

I heard hookah tastes really good, and smells good, too. If I had to try tobacco that'd be my choice. Otherwise, it's an expensive habit. My dad smokes and looks horrendous now, too. It really aged him. I'm not trying to discourage people from smoking, though. It's their choice. Besides, I'm not exactly the most morally right person out there.

Living in New York and having my Gov. raise the taxes yet again on cigarettes (up another $1.60) and they want to charge tax on cigarettes from reservations. I've got to get out of this state

I don't but I think people who do are kind of attractive.

When I started smoking the only think that was really on my mind was looking older.
I know that's stupid, but what can I say?

oops nvm i didnt know this was grown up gamers ignore this post

Smoking is not harmful if you DON'T inhale the smoke. If you do, then it's bad.

My only issue with smoking/smokers is that second-hand smoke is worse than actually smoking. And the way it stays on your clothes and furniture. I had an asthma scare when I was like 7, (my doctor thought I might be asthmatic) and my doctor told my Mom (a smoker) "You might need to stop smoking, buy new clothes, get new furniture, etc." But I didn't have it, but my Mum quit nearly a year ago, so I guess it all turned out for the better in the end. Question mark?

Pretty much all my family, most whom are on the other side of the world, smoke.  It's like tradition for everyone to smoke over there.  One of my cousins, whom used to smoke quite a bit, recently had a baby.  She of course quit while pregnant so I was like "Yay, she finally quit" only to find out that she has picked up the habit again.   

I've heard that women mostly smoke because it's a social thing and men smoke because they crave the nicotine.  Therefore if you want to quit and, generally, you're a female, they teach you how to think relaxing thoughts while in a social situation so you won't be tempted to smoke.

"Smoking is not harmful if you DON'T inhale the smoke. If you do, then it's bad."

Not necessarily, it can still ruin your teeth. I would personally never even think about even touching a cigarette. Well let me rephrase that. I think it's okay socially as long as you are being responsible and can handle it maturely. Personally though, I wouldn't smoke.

I started smoking when I was 13. My mom smokes, and has my whole life...literally, she even smoked when she was pregnant with me. Which still urks me. I smoked on and off until I was 23. At my heaviest smoking, I smoked about 1 pack a day. Mostly I did it when I was at the bar or out with friends. I quit easily. I wasn't addicted to the nicotine or chemicals. I quit cold turkey. After that I sometimes had one, and felt bad afterwards.
My fiancee quit and that was so good for him. He has a cleft palate, which has been repaired, but the roof of his mouth is split, has a gap from when he grew as a kid. He never got it repaired. So it's probably really bad for him to smoke. He switched to these little cigars, which have filters, and have no fillers or gross additives. I guess they're "healthier" but I still wish he'd quit altogether.
Now I hate smoking, I think it's bad, and I think people look gross when they do it (sorry smokers). I don't think badly about people who do, I just think it's unattractive.
My mom's doctor found a spot on her lung, and she was worried, but she continues to smoke. Luckily the spot is nothing. But you would think that would open her eyes, but no.

I hate when someone is smoking next to me. However, I've never smoked myself.

I've always wanted to try it, just to see how it is, but I every time I get the chance (I've got friends that smoke), I decide not to cave in.